


Backwards

by orphan_account



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 12:16:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2348177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the-masked-prompter said:</p><p>AH OT6 prompt: Ryan isn’t sure how to ask the others out so he starts reading up on hypnosis so he could get them to tell them how they would like to be asked out and what their ideal date would be? Insecure!Ryan, eventual OT6 and happy ending please!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Backwards

The problem with liking five different men, is that asking one person out on a date is already hard- asking five to a date that one of them may or may not like? It’s downright terrifying. Maybe, just maybe, Ray and Jack will like it. Or maybe Geoff and Gavin. But then Michael will think it’s dumb. Or Maybe they’ll all hate it. He’s got no data to go off of and no idea how to get any without just flat out saying ‘I want to take you on a date, what kinds do you like?’ with all five in the room. Ryan isn’t so sure that’d go over well. It’d be interesting, to say the least, but he doesn’t want them to start hating him for liking them all. So he starts small, gets a book on hypnosis, and wonders if this will actually work.

It doesn’t. Hypnosis is a bunch of shit and Ryan doesn’t know why he even gave it a try. Perhaps he’s desperate to say something to them. Or he’s just going out of his mind and at the end of his rope because he doesn’t know how to get what he means across to all of them. Besides, it’s not like he can really hope even one of them will like him- never mind all five. He tosses the book in the trash and hates himself a little more when he realizes he was willing to mess with their heads just to get an answer. It’s not healthy. It’s not right. And he has no idea how to justify the book when Gavin asks him about it.

“I was just curious.” He says, trying to ignore the way his stomach flips and screams that he’s lying.

“Oh. But what would you really need hypnosis for? I mean, you could always just ask someone what they were thinking.” Gavin started, looking confused. “But then again, people lie all the bloody time. Did you read the whole thing?”

“No. It was a bunch of shit.”

“Aw, I was hoping I’d get to see hypnosis in action! Could you imagine what it’d be like to just get someone to say what they mean? No half truths, no lies, no speaking in riddles. Just plain and simple. Though..What if someone wanted to murder you?”

“Then you’d have time to convince them not to.”

“But what if someone liked you?”

“Then you can let them down gently.”

“But what if you liked them back and just hadn’t found a way to tell them?”

“….Then I guess you’d be able to tell them without fear of their reaction.”

“But would it really be telling them? I mean, they’re not really there.”

“Yes they are.”

“No they’re totally not. They won’t remember it right? So it doesn’t count.”

“How does it not count?”

“Nothing they say counts. Because it’s not them.”

“But it is them.”

“Ryan, you know what I mean!”

“I honestly have no idea.”

“You smug little donut, you know exactly what I mean! Anyways, what were you curious about with hypnosis? Trying to see if you could get someone to kill for you?”

“Not exactly. I was more curious how to get someone to tell you what they want.”

“Just ask.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Then it’s not that important.”

“Go back to work or something and stop bothering me.”

“I’m waiting for a video to render, I’ve got some time.”

“Then go bother Michael.”

“But I want you to teach me hypnosis!”

“I told you I didn’t read the book.”

“So you can read it to me at lunch. C’mon, please?”

“Will it get you to leave me alone so I can finish editing this?”

“I promise!”

“Fine. Just..Keep the book between us, yeah?”

“Top!”

Ryan sighed, shooing the brit away and watching him place the dumb book on his desk. Great job at keeping it concealed, Gavin, he thought to himself as he turned back to his work. The lunch went fine, and by the end of it they were both laughing at the ridiculous things the book wanted them to do. Yes, stare deeply into the clock. Because the sound of my voice will never distract you from the ticking. Stare someone down and place your hand on their forehead, muttering nonsense while you draw clues. Totally hypnosis. Ryan drove them back to work feeling better than he had in a while, and easily accepted when Gavin asked if they could do it again next Wednesday. Hanging out with Gavin was nice when they weren’t arguing about coins.

After two weeks of Wednesdays, Geoff approached him looking sour. He waited patiently but after a few minutes when no words passed between them, he shrugged and got back to watching the latest fails submissions to decide which ones were going to be in the next video. Geoff surprised him when he finally spoke, forcefully pausing the video and crossing his arms across his chest.

“You’ve been taking Gavin to lunch every week.” There was no question, only a declaration.

“Yes?” Ryan answered it anyways, confused as why it’d be a problem.

“You don’t hang out with the rest of us, but you take Gavin to lunch every week.”

“He asked me to.”

“What?”

“He asked me to lunch once then asked if we could do it weekly. I said yes. I don’t understand what’s got you upset.”

“Take me to dinner tonight.”

“What?”

“Take me to dinner. Just you and me.”

“Uh..Are you sure?”

“Yup. I don’t care where we go, but it’s going to be just us hanging out and you’re paying.”

“Okay?”

“Good. After work? I mean, you don’t need to record for the patch today or anything do you?”

“Nah. After work’s fine.”

“Alright. I’ll see you then.”

Ryan spent a good few minutes trying to work out exactly what had happened before shrugging it off. It wasn’t fair of him to just be hanging out with one coworker he guessed. There was no secret meaning behind it, no other reason that Geoff would ask, he just wasn’t happy that Gavin was getting to know his employee before he did. That was what made sense. Still, dinner was night. It turned into a weekly thing ‘because Gavin doesn’t get to hog you all to himself, it’s rude as dicks’, and it was just another thing he found himself lucky to have. Eventually he’d have to find a way to get them to say what their idea of a good date was. Maybe weekly meetings with them would make it easier to slip into conversation? He was just starting to plan when Michael approached him, sitting on his desk.

“So you’ve been spending a lot of time with Geoff and Gavin.” Michael said, crossing his legs at his ankles.

“We’ve been hanging out, yeah.” Ryan replied with a raised brow.

“Okay. Well, I was thinking. Want to have a movie marathon at my place? We can watch whatever and just kinda..chill..”

“It sounds nice. When?”

“Is Friday at like..7 okay?”

“Fine. Should I bring anything?”

“It’s probably cliche to say just yourself. Soda would be nice. Or some candy. I don’t really give a fuck what you bring as long as you come.”

“Is this one going to become a weekly thing too?”

“I mean..It doesn’t have to. But I’d really fucking like it to.”

“Alright.”

“Alright?”

“Weekly thing. You officially have my Friday nights.”

“Fuck yeah I do!”

Ryan pretends not to see the little fist pump Michael does, and when Friday comes everything goes smoothly. They watch horrible B-rated movies and make fun of them together, loudly snacking. Michael fell asleep on Ryan’s shoulder and, for a minute, Ryan forgot they were just hanging out. That everything was friendly. He nearly put his arm around Michael before he caught himself and drew away carefully. Maybe these hang outs were a bad idea, but he was really growing fond of the time he was spending with everyone. Ryan left Michael asleep on the couch with a blanket thrown over him, feeling guilty he’d been so caught up in his own feelings.

Despite how the last one ended, he still went to them. Wednesday lunches with Gavin, Thursday dinners with Geoff, and Friday movie nights with Michael. All of them were wonderful, all of them were just slightly nerve wracking because he was just until he tripped over his own words, said something he shouldn’t, and would have them all removed from his life. Ryan was wondering over whether he really deserved them in the first place when Ray approached him.

“Rendering takes forever.” Ray complained.

“That’s because recording takes forever.” Ryan stated, not even turning from his screen.

“Come play something with me for like an hour.”

“What?”

“Come play like CoD or Worms or some shit with me. It’ll help the time pass by.”

“I’ve got work to do still, Ray. Maybe another time?”

“Lame. Do you have Sunday open?”

“Yeah.”

“Awesome, now you don’t. I’ve got dibs on Sunday.”

“Do you now?”

“Yup. You’re coming over and we’re going to game together and get pizza or something. Unless you’d rather have an open Sunday.”

“I’m slowly learning my week was never really mine. Any games you want me to bring?”

“Any that you’d actually want to play with me.”

“Okay. Time?”

“Uh..3o’clock?”

“Sounds good.” Ryan smiled and made a mental note to go through his games for good two players when he got home. Ray stayed by his desk anyways, talking to him through editing while he was waiting for the render to finish. It was odd to have someone speaking with him while he was working, but not unwelcomed because he didn’t really need to mess with the audio of this video too much. He still had to redo some parts when Ray finally left, but it was hard to be frustrated when he was looking forward to his weekend. (It was even harder to be upset considering it would have been the same amount of time even without Ray talking to him.) Sunday was pretty great. They both got so distracted he actually ended up staying the night by accident- waking up with a pain in his neck, across town from any fresh change of clothes, with only an hour before they had to be at work was not exactly pleasant.

On the bright side, only Ray had seen him in the clothes he’d been wearing and it wasn’t like the young gamer was complaining. Or mentioning it at all. In fact, Ray seemed to just be rather thankful for the ride and not quite awake as he should have been. Ryan wasn’t surprised when it also became a weekly commitment. He’d pretty much accepted that there was no possible way his week would be his own. What was a surprise was that the sleepover remained part of it too. At least with prior warning he was able to start bringing a bag of his shit with him when he went to Ray’s- one that had more than just games and the essentials. He adjusted to it and didn’t think twice about it when he became Ray’s ride to work every Monday.

Two months since he bought the book and Ryan was still no closer to asking any of them. Weekly hangouts weren’t making it any better, the more time he spent with each of them individually the more time he spent being shown just why it was so important he ask in the first place. He was honestly stressing much more than he should have been by the time Jack had cornered him at the office. Ryan waited a few silent minutes before he tried to push past and get back to work, but Jack finally seemed to find his voice.

“So I know you’ve been going out with the boys a lot lately-” Jack started, sounding a bit unsure.

“Yeah, they kind of each claimed a day.” Ryan cut him off, still trying to move around him.

“-and I know you’re not so big on the whole going out to crowded spaces sort of thing. But you’ve been looking kind of…Well, stressed. Overwhelmed? Lost, even. Would you like to talk about it? I know you’re probably more comfortable with one of the others, but it seems like they’re not helping. You don’t have to talk about anything if you don’t want to, just…wanted to offer.”

“Thanks.” Ryan thought for a few seconds, debating whether or not telling Jack was a good idea. After all, he was getting no where on his own. Fuck it, right? Had to ask someone eventually. “I’m a bit lost because I’m trying to figure out how to ask someone on a date without knowing what they’d like to do. I don’t want to offer something they’d hate and give them even more reason to turn it down.”

“Well, that’s part of dating isn’t it? Getting to know each other better. If someone’s interested in you, they’ll either accept the date no matter what it is- or they’ll try and offer a counter. Something that will work for the both of you.”

“The whole if they’re interested is part of the problem. The less reason to turn it down, the better.”

“You’re selling yourself rather short there. But if you’re really this worried about it, maybe I can help. Who are you trying to ask?”

“That’s where it gets complicated.”

“How complicated?”

“It’s not just one person I want to ask. So it’s a matter of not only finding out what they’d like, but finding out if they’d be okay with a polyamorous date and somehow finding something they’d all like to do together.”

“Polyamory can be a tricky thing to figure out. Most people at the company don’t care and won’t judge as long as it’s healthy. You know, agreements set up beforehand and understandings about where everyone in that relationship stands. So, if it helps, no one here is going to hate you or anything.”

“It actually does help a bit.”

“Oh good. I was afraid I was talking out of my ass again.”

“Nah.”

“So, when do you plan to break the news to the assholes that you’ll need your week back?”

“Why bother, it’d just go right back to them once I figure out how to ask them anyways-”

“Really? Well, I can help you there then.”

“What?”

“When I say help, it’s more that I can point a few things out to you.”

“Go on.”

“Gavin loves lunch dates. Geoff likes the later dinner dates. Michael likes watching horrible movies together dates, and Ray likes games he doesn’t have to record or perfect. We’v-They’ve been trying to ask you on a proper date for months now but were afraid to upset you or scare you off. You’ve already been going on their perfect dates with them.”

“I thought they just wanted to see me outside the office for once.”

“Oh they did. They just want to see you outside it with them much more.”

“I’m not really sure I believe that.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Would you want to spend more time with me outside work?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Well. I guess that makes it easier to ask. At least now I know.”

“You also don’t have to worry about the polyamorous clusterfuck.”

“They’ve got their own dates with each other they go on.”

“Exactly. Just make sure you set out and state clearly how much or how little you want

to be involved with everyone. Ask them, it’ll be fine.”

“For all of them?”

“Yes.”

“How do I even bring it up? I can’t just go ‘so we’ve been going on these weird not

dates for a while now’…”

“Just ask what their ideal date is. Tell them you want to take them on it- and be honest that it’s not just them. Exactly like you told me.”

“Oh sure, you make it sound so easy when you say it like that.”

“If love was easy, there’d be more happily ever afters. Keep me in the loop about the guys? I want to know who you start with. Or don’t tell me, if you’d rather keep that all between y’all.”

“Hey, Jack?”

“Yes?”

“What’s your ideal date? I’d really like to take you on one.”


End file.
